Why is the round trip from A to B 1.5 times as expensive as the round trip from B to A?
I live in the US and want to see my family in Europe, so I considered two options: I fly to Europe or they fly to US. When I was comparing tickets with Turkish Airlines I noticed that the round trip from the US to Europe costs 960$ and the round trip from Europe to the US costs 600$.
I understand that pricing for airlines is some sort of modern art, but it still makes little sense to me since both options require the same 2 flights.
My guess is there is no way for me to game the system here, since I need only one round trip.
Best Answer
I understand that pricing for airlines is some sort of modern art, but it still makes little sense to me since both options require the same 2 flights.
The second part of this sentence shows that the first part is false. Welcome to the world of yield management.
Airfares do not have much to do with what it costs the airline to provide the transportation. They have everything to do with what the airline thinks the particular traveler is willing to pay for it. The only relation that has to what it costs to operate the flight is that the flight will not be offered at all unless the airline thinks the sum of what it can extract from all the various passengers will be enough to allow them to turn a profit.
Since it wouldn't be cost-effective (and potentially illegal in today's climate) to launch a detailed investigation into the personal circumstances of each individual traveler, airlines instead use other factors which are more easily available to them as proxies of how much they think a customer would be willing to pay. One of these factors is certainly whether the customer is an American looking to go to Europe or a European looking to go to America.
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Why do you pay twice for round trip?
By keeping one-way flights more expensive, airlines are able to get extra revenue out of the business travelers who can't book their return flights as far in advance, and are willing to pay more for that flexibility.Why is it cheaper to buy round trip than one way?
One of the main reasons that one-way tickets can be so expensive is because they're often purchased by business travelers who have rigid date/time requirements and are less sensitive to price.Why does it cost more for a return flight?
To answer the question directly, one ways are usually flown by business travelers or people with the money to do that. So the airlines price one ways high as they're generally not flown by vacationers saving up for a (round trip) holiday and so they extract maximum revenue.Is it cheaper to travel one way or round trip?
When traveling within the U.S., airlines typically price one-way flights at exactly half the cost of a round-trip. There certainly are exceptions, especially for those that fly out of smaller, regional airports.Why Are One-Way Flights More Expensive Than Round-Trips ? | Round-Trips vs One-Way Tickets | JayEcoN
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